Rodrigo Neto

11 results arranged by date

Justice delayed is justice denied, goes the legal maxim, and that has all too often been the case in Latin America. But the perseverance of lawyers and prosecutors in Brazil has resulted in a number of recent convictions in cases many thought had been buried or forgotten.

The ambush of a convoy in South Sudan and the hacking deaths of bloggers in Bangladesh this year propelled the two nations onto CPJ's Global Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where journalists are murdered and their killers go unpunished. Colombia exited the index as fatal violence against journalists receded further into that country's past.

For the first time since CPJ began compiling the index in 2008, Iraq did not claim the title of worst offender, as Somalia edged into that spot. The shift reflects a steady death toll in Somalia, where one or more journalists have been murdered every year over the past decade, and the government has proved unable or unwilling to investigate the attacks.

São Paulo, August 20, 2015--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the conviction and sentencing Wednesday of Alessandro Neves Augusto for the murder of Walgney Assis de Carvalho, a freelance photographer shot dead in Minas Gerais state in 2013, and urges authorities to continue investigating to find the mastermind.

New York, June 24, 2015--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the conviction on Friday of the gunman in the 2013 murder of Brazilian journalist Rodrigo Neto and calls on authorities to ensure all those responsible, including the mastermind, are brought to justice.

4. Steps That Work and Those That Don’t

On May 3, 2011, CPJ representatives traveled to Pakistan to raise concerns about the increasing attacks against journalists there and the country’s high rate of impunity. It was a moment of drama: The previous day, American forces had killed Osama bin Laden in nearby Abbottabad. But Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari kept his commitment and met CPJ to discuss the growing number of Pakistani journalists murdered because of their work, and the absence of prosecution against the assailants.

2. The vicious cycle of impunity

By Sara Rafsky

When theWorld Cup kicks off in Brazil in June, the government of President Dilma Rousseff will be celebrating the country’s emergence as a global powerhouse. The event, to be staged at sites across the country, will put the nation’s vast and diverse territory on display,unlike the Olympics, which Brazil is hosting two years later in just one city, Rio de Janeiro. While the 2012 murder of a local soccer journalist in central-western Goiânia may run counter to the official narrative of success, it reflects the disparate realities of a country as immense as Brazil, and depicts a darker side of “the beautiful game.”

Appendix: Journalists killed in Brazil since January 1, 2011

CPJ research has determined that at least 12 journalists have been killed in direct relation to their work since Dilma Rousseff was inaugurated as president on January 1, 2011. Another five have been killed in unclear circumstances, and CPJ continues to investigate those cases.

When Mick Deane was killed in Egypt on Wednesday, he became the 1,000th journalist documented by CPJ as having died in direct relation to his work. The photos above, a sampling of those who have died over the past 21 years, serve as a powerful reminder of the cost of critical, independent journalism.

One
month after their colleague Rodrigo Neto was gunned down on the street
after eating at a popular outdoor barbecue restaurant, the journalists of Vale do Aço, Brazil, were indignant. Denouncing
a sluggish investigation and the possibility of police involvement in the
murder, they strapped black bands to their wrists in a sign of solidarity, put
on T-shirts bearing Neto's name, and took to the streets to demand justice. Six
days later, Walgney Assis Carvalho, a photographer who claimed to have
knowledge of the crime, was shot twice in the back by a masked assassin as he
sat at a fish restaurant. The journalists of Vale do Aço are still indignant, but now they are terrified.

New
York, April 15, 2013--Brazilian authorities must bring to justice the assailants
involved in the murder of a crime photographer on Sunday night, the Committee
to Protect Journalists said today. Walgney Assis Carvalho was a freelance
photographer who contributed to the daily Vale do Aço in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.